Search for Tigers

Valmik Thapar introduces Saba Douglas-Hamilton to the delights of tiger spotting in drought-ridden Ranthambhore tiger reserve in Rajasthan, India. Over the last five years Valmik has been following one particular tigress, Machli, as she has developed from a fledgling mother into one of the dominant tigresses in the reserve that now seems to specialise in killing huge 14-foot mugger crocodiles. Saba may have thought spotting tigers was going to be easy but it doesn’t take her long to realise it is much harder than finding lions at home in Africa. In the early stages of her first sojourn to India, she manages to see the striped wonder of the subcontinent and even has a close encounter with the crocodile killer, Machli. By the end of her trip she is getting far too close for her own comfort to the most charismatic cat on earth.